Your website is the lifeblood of your business. It is the front window that potential customers peek into, to decide whether they are going to email, call, or visit you – this applies whether they saw you on an advertising platform, found you on Google, or were recommended to you by a vendor or former client. Even with all the focus on social media, most paths lead to a website visit before wedding couples email, call, text, message, or visit you.

Your website is judged by Google and if it does not speak to Google the right way, you can lose hundreds of visitors to your site in the market for your services. Ironically, done right, Google is offering for free what you pay WeddingWire, The Knot, and any other advertising platform to do.

No matter how well you place on Google, or the amount of money you are investing in advertising, without a strong website, you are losing your best chance of converting potential clients into paying customers.

Here are 9 key factors to consider in your journey to have a successful wedding business website:

1) Have a mobile-friendly website

A mobile-friendly website means wedding couples who visit your website on mobile devices such as smartphones are able to navigate through your site without hassle. To achieve this, the text on your website should be easy to read; couples should never have to pinch in and out of your website to read or click on something.

If your website is not mobile-friendly, 80 percent of visitors will leave your site due to a negative experience. Remember that even if your site was recently designed, it still may not be mobile-friendly. So, do a thorough examination of your site. You can start by using Google’s helpful Mobile-Friendly Test to check your web pages.

2) Create a modern-looking website

Young couples and other visitors expecting a modern site will be discouraged to contact you if your website looks outdated. Why? Because a website’s design is a reflection of the business. One that looks outdated thus appears less professional. So, if your site looks like it hasn’t been updated in awhile, update it. Otherwise, couples may begin to question the quality of the goods or services you provide. You may even find couples questioning whether you’re still in business.

3) Include calls to action

Make sure you include calls to action in almost every single section of your website – your phone number, contact form, email, Skype, etc. Not putting your calls to action everywhere, with easy ways to actually contact you, minimizes your chances of someone contacting you.

If you have an image slider at the very top of your homepage, make sure you include a call to action. Or, at the very least, include a description of your company. Not having either makes it 50 percent more likely for someone to leave.

4) Tell them who you are and where you are

Your website needs to provide contact information about your wedding business. It’ll help wedding couples figure out whether you’re in their area and how to contact you if they’re interested. Therefore, on the footer or header of every page, make sure you provide your:

• service
• location
• phone number
• email address

Not providing this information can prevent wedding couples from continuing to look at your website. Also, be sure to list your address exactly the same way as it appears on Google Maps for better SEO.

5) Post high-quality photos

Including photos on your wedding website can greatly enhance a wedding couple’s experience when they visit your site. However, photos can also ruin your website. If you post images that are blurry or unattractive, it will discourage a potential client from contacting you.

6) Improve your website’s readability

When a wedding couple visits your website, it should be easy for them to read your copy or descriptions. As a general rule, write your website copy at the level of an 8th grader. This may sound silly, but you want short, concise, and easy to read sentences.

7) Have descriptive keywords, title tags, and meta descriptions

Someone is less likely to find your local wedding business on Google if your website includes words and phrases that are too vague. Why? Because there are thousands of other websites with the same vague words on their website as well.

What you want to do is make sure that Google knows what is specifically on your website by using writing which includes specific words and phrases that relate to your business. That takes research and understanding the strategy involved.

8) Don’t tell them everything

Too much information can be overwhelming. Provide the amount of content and imagery to inspire potential clients to contact you with interest. You can go deeper into detail on inner pages but should avoid doing so on your home page.

Wedding couples often are not paying full attention when they are looking online and especially on a mobile device. 

9) Find the right balance between optimizing your site for the visitor and Google

Covering this topic is too much for one blog post, but perfect for the Comprehensive Marketing & SEO Wedding Industry Educational Conference taking place in November 2019 in New Jersey. If you want to really understand tools, strategies, and key information you can take into your own hands to improve your website and online visibility, register now for this special opportunity. Click here for more info.

Live too far away to attend the conference?

Want to get some ideas of where your business is displaying online currently and what’s missing?

I will do a custom analysis for you for free as a courtesy. Simply click here to request it now! I look forward to hearing from you and giving you a true analysis of your current wedding website.

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This is a sponsored post from Brian Lawrence. Brian is one of the foremost marketing experts in the wedding industry. Working closely with Alan Berg, his current company creates websites and marketing for the wedding industry. You may have seen Brian’s marketing articles on the pro blogs of Wedding Wire, Wedding Planner Magazine, The Knot, Perfect Wedding Guide, and as a columnist for Vows Magazine.